Broadcast area Worldwide First air date June 1989 | Frequency Various City of license Nashville Power 100,000 watts | |
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Callsign meaning World Wide Christian Radio Owner F.W. Robbert Broadcasting Format Christian radio, Brokered programming Branding World Wide Christian Radio Call sign meaning World Wide Christian Radio Sister stations WNQM, WMQM, WVOG, WITA, WLRM | ||
WWCR is a shortwave radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee in the United States. WWCR uses four 100 kW transmitters to broadcast on about a dozen frequencies.
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WWCR mainly leases out its four transmitters to religious organizations and speakers. However, it does air a few hours of original programming per week.
F.W. Robbert Broadcasting also owns the AM (mediumwave) stations WNQM in Nashville, WMQM and WLRM in Memphis, WITA in Knoxville, and WVOG in New Orleans. Some of WWCR's programming is also broadcast on these local stations.
History
Originally known as 'World Wide Country Radio,' WWCR began broadcasting a country format but quickly switched to a standard evangelical Christian format, also selling leased airtime. Because of the station's policy of leasing airtime, WWCR acquired an early reputation for carrying an eclectic mix of political and entertainment programming in addition to the religious programs. Among those, past as well as present, making their shortwave debut on WWCR, are:
WWCR is also notable for a December 1997 broadcast by Ted Gunderson which later became the subject of a court case. In that case, lawyers for Art Bell claimed that the broadcast had implied he had been charged with child molestation. A defamation lawsuit against the station was settled in October 2000 and Art Bell claimed that WWCR had apologized for the incident. Ted Gunderson disputes that any apology was ever made and asserts that the case was entirely baseless. The majority of the political commentary on the station is of a right wing or far right nature with extensive discussion on conspiracy theories some critics have branded such programming hate radio.